GREEN Style: The Hidden Cost of Modern Aviation
When we go to a busy airport where hundreds of planes take off and land every minute, we do not notice how many planes are in the sky, we are busy with our luggage, or preparing a presentation for a meeting in a crowded airport lobby, or make a last moment corrections in the speech. As of April 2024, 6 million people fly on a given day, and roughly 100,000 flights take off and land. However, we know from the flight radar that 8,000 to 20,000 planes are in the sky at a given time. The sky is the busiest between 2-4 pm on a Friday in July and August. The advantages we gain from airplanes come at a cost; both money and environmental. Flights rely on jet fuel; a complex mixture of hydrocarbons, including aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons. Jet fuel is derived from crude oil through a series of processes, and has a higher flash point than gasoline, which reduces the risk of fire. ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) is a United Nations Agency that sets standards and r...
